Short Changed

Judges 2:10-19

I hope for change in this election, but I also hope it isn’t short-lived change.  What are some examples of how our human nature tries to change but it doesn’t stick?  [diets / treatment of our spouse / stop smoking / clean up language]

I. THE PATTERN OF ISRAEL’S SHORT-LIVED CHANGE
        A. Israel’s Forgetfulness
1. In verse 7 we see that Joshua and the elders who had crossed Jordan and led the people into the Promised Land maintained a strong national faith.
2. However, according to verse 10, after their deaths a new generation arose which did not know God and caused Israel to abandon the truth. They no longer knew or acknowledged God. They ignored and forgot His works.
3. Verse 11 through 13 tells us that they forsook God and followed the false religions and customs of the time, inviting the anger of the Lord to fall upon them.
4. America’s foundations were built upon a strong national faith instilled by our founding fathers.
        a. James Madison, the chief architect of the Constitution said, "We’ve staked the whole of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
        b. George Washington, our First President, wrote in his field notebook, "Direct my thoughts, words and work, wash my sins in the immaculate blood of the lamb, and purge my heart by thy Holy Spirit, Daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy Son Jesus Christ."
5. But like Israel we have raised up new generations that no longer know or acknowledge God. We have a nation that has not only ignored God but has sought to stamp Him out of the very fabric of our lives. We have committed abominable sins. Just two examples are the slaughtering of  millions of babies through abortion and the condoning of homosexuality, teaching it as an alternate lifestyle in our schools. We too as a nation have invited God’s anger.

        B. Israel’s Wakeup Call
1. Verse 15 tells us that God sent Israel a wake-up call by way of national distress and tragedy. Their land was terrorized, property was destroyed, wealth was diminished, and many were oppressed, assaulted and killed in attack after attack.
2. Moses had already predicted in Deuteronomy 31:29 "For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands."
3. Psalms 9:17 "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."
4. Like Israel, I believe that God has sent America a number of wakeup calls – September 11, 2001 being one of them.  And since any change we felt was short lived, I'm afraid the phone will continue ringing!  We truly are a 'short changed' people.

        C. Israel’s Repentance
1. God used the distress of the Israelites to drive them to their knees. In their distress they cried out to God for deliverance and hearing their cry He delivered them through the judges he raised up in verse 16.
2. In the days immediately following 9/11, churches reported an increased attendance, people began to pray, to read their Bibles, to talk about a return to the Christian heritage and value system of our nation.  But it was a short change.
 

        D. Israel’s Short-lived Change
1. Once Israel’s situation was changed by God, the enemy having been defeated, and relative peace and tranquility restored, they became as spiritually indifferent and apathetic as they were before.
2. Verse 17 states "… they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so."
3. Verse 19 "And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way."
4. Although nearly half the population says their faith was a critical resource in helping them respond to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a Barna Research Group poll suggested that people’s religious beliefs and practices were unchanged a year later. "For the most part, our response to the attacks has been to restore continuity and comfort as quickly as possible, without much energy devoted to moral, spiritual or emotional growth."  George Barna
5. Immediately after the attacks, church attendance rose for several weeks and then fell back to normal levels by November. Research also showed virtually no change in levels of Bible reading, church attendance, prayer, adult Sunday School attendance and small-group involvement. "It appears that very few people radically changed their personal agenda and added church involvement to their schedule when previously there had been no such activity."
6. Barna acknowledged, "I was among those who fully expected to see an intense spiritual reaction to the terrorist attacks," "The fact that we saw no lasting impact from the most significant act of war against our country on our own soil says something about the spiritual complacency of the American public."
7. There’s remarkable irony in the fact that there is a growing acceptance of Islam in America in spite of the undeniable truth that it was indeed Mohammed’s religion that was the prime motivator for the terrorists who attacked us on that terrible day.

II. SHORT-LIVED CHANGES ARE EXTERNAL CHANGES NOT INTERNAL
        A. They are often the response to fear
· We have all heard the saying that “there are no atheists in foxholes.” It’s amazing how religious and how spiritual we get when in danger and we begin to bargain with God.

        B. They are frequently based on convenience.
1. These decisions are half-hearted decisions, which are made only when convenient for the individual and when not requiring sacrifice or commitment.
2. Half-heartedness and mediocrity don’t inspire anybody to do anything.
3. Mark 4:18-19 "And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful."

        C. They are occasionally based on pure emotion.
1. Proverbs 28:26 "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered."
2. Feelings are no substitute for facts and faith.
3. Someone asked Luther: "Do you feel that you have been forgiven?" He answered: "No, but I’m as sure as there’s a God in heaven. For feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God, naught else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel condemned for want of some sweet token, There is One greater than my heart whose Word cannot be broken. I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word till soul and body sever;
For though all things shall pass away, his Word shall stand forever!"
        D. They are sometimes the result of peer pressure
1. An aged woman was asked the benefits of living to the age of 102. After a pause, she answered, "No peer pressure!"
2. Going along with the crowd for the sake of peer acceptance never lasts in the long run.

III. THE THREE R’S OF GENUINE LASTING CHANGE.
        A. Repentance
1. 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
2. Repentance is what makes religion more than ritual. - David Smith.

        B. Relationship
1. Deuteronomy 4:29 "But if from thence you shall seek the LORD thy God, you shall find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul."
2. The common church in America is filled with religious people who desperately need an experience of the living, holy, forgiving, gracious God.  They have religion, but they need relationship.
3. Philippians 1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
4. "The turning point in our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God who is." – Patrick Morley in The Seasons of a Man’s Life. Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 3.

        C. Remembrance
1. The past is valuable as a guidepost, but dangerous if used as a hitching post.
2. Isaiah 46:9 "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,"
3. Sir Thomas More said, "The world does not need so much to be informed as to be reminded." So the Bible says again and again "Forget not!" and "Remember! Remember! Remember!"
4. Roll back the curtain of memory now and then. Show me where you brought me from and where I could have been. Remember I’m human and humans forget, So remind me, remind me, dear Lord.

[from sermon by Gerald Flury]